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A Day in the Life of an F&L MBA Student

*NYU Stern’s Fashion & Luxury MBA program was renamed to the Luxury & Retail MBA program.*

Katelyn Vu is a current Fashion & Luxury MBA student, specializing in Luxury Marketing and Brand Management. Prior to Stern, she worked at Neo Media World (WPP) as a Marketing Manager. Katelyn has 5+ years of experience in digital marketing and strategy, partnering with EssilorLuxottica, Amazon, Sony and a variety of tech companies. At Stern, she is involved in the Luxury & Retail Club. Outside of work and school, Katelyn enjoys traveling around the world and trying different cuisines.

As an NYU Stern MBA student, my days are filled with classes, group meetings, networking events and social engagements. Thus, time management skills are critical and Google Calendar is my friend. No days are the same, but here is a snapshot of a typical day in my life as a “FLUX” (Fashion & Luxury) MBA student.

With multiple alarms starting at 7AM, my day usually begins around then. I often listen to news podcasts like Up First by NPR  as I prepare for school. Around 8:20 AM, I head down to the subway. Since I live near World Trade Center, my commute to school is only 20 minutes by train and it’s a great time to check my emails and skim through news articles from the Business of Fashion and Vogue Business sites. Once I get to school, I stop by Matto Espresso in the Stern Sosnoff Lounge for an iced latte and some baked goods to get myself ready for a full day of activities.

At 9AM, it’s time for class. Today, in Pricing class, we learn about regression analysis and profit maximization strategy. After the morning class, I swing by the Nyman Family Reading Room – aka the quiet grad lounge – on the 4th floor to work on my homework and review the cases for my next class.

For lunch, I usually pick up something nearby to munch on while continuing to work on my projects and papers. However, I have scheduled a coffee chat with a Stern alum today so I head to Hudson Yards for the meeting. 

After lunch, I come back to campus and swing by the Office of Career Development to prep myself for the recruiting season. The Careers team helps with job search strategy as well as resume and cover letter review, and mock interviews. 

At 3 PM, it’s time for another class. The afternoon session is Brand Strategy with Professor Gormley. We discuss the brand identity of legacy brands such as Chase and National Geographic. We, then, break into groups to work on our projects.

At NYU Stern, we get a lot of opportunities to meet with industry leaders as it is located in the center of NYC. Student organizations often invite company founders and industry experts to speak about their experiences and perspectives on different topics. These events are a great way to build connections. I usually say hello to the speakers and introduce myself at the end of each event. Today, we get to hear from Liah Yoo, founder of Krave Beauty. It’s so inspiring to hear about her journey in creating and growing her business, and how she has authentically competed in the beauty industry.

At 5:50 PM, I run to my pilates class in Soho. It is very important for me to try to stay healthy amidst my busy schedule!

By 7:30PM, it’s time to relax and socialize. I head to MacDougal Street right near campus to meet my friends for a drink and dinner. This is my chance to get to know my classmates and continue to build relationships that will last beyond graduation.

My day ends around 10 PM as I head home to prepare for the next day. 

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My Job Application Experience

*NYU Stern’s Fashion & Luxury MBA program was renamed to the Luxury & Retail MBA program.*

Jennifer Rice comes to NYU Stern with over six years of experience as a Design Director in sustainability and performance brands. After working as a designer for shoes and ready-to-wear at Zero + Maria Cornejo, she went on to start up her own consulting company in 2021, aligning new and established brands with partners across the east coast for brand development and production services. Jennifer is a Graduate Ambassador, AVP of Admissions for SISA, and admissions committee member for SWIB. Aside from work and school, you can find Jennifer at Washington Square Park dog run with her roommates, Meredith and Elizabeth, and their dog, Stella. 

When I began my recruitment journey at Stern, I had a pretty good idea of “what” I wanted to do, but wanted to explore all the different avenues of getting there. After exploring different avenues like Consulting, Merchandising, and even for a moment, Venture Capital, I realized that I was looking for a bit more of a holistic experience in my next role. Because of my background of being with one company for many years, to then having a consulting practice where I had multiple clients at a time, I realized my next move needed to be one where I have the opportunity to really understand a company from every angle and perspective. I wanted to see the way different departments operated and worked together, before settling into a specific vertical within a company, and a rotational program really spoke to me in that regard. Additionally, I found that I have really enjoyed the learning and mentorship environment at Stern, so I was hoping to find a program that emphasized this in order to continue that thread in my professional career post MBA.

Deciding a Path

Next, I educated myself on the different roles typically offered to Stern MBA students in retail, and immediately there was one that stuck out to me. It had everything I had hoped for: an incredible sustainable department that was looking for continued growth, a strong consumer insights team, and a really positive company culture. To really emphasize that last part: being in the fashion industry, I had become accustomed to the fact that work days would be 12+ hours and the culture wouldn’t always be friendly. I can safely say that this theory is not always the case, and that you *can* find the balance. 

The Application Process

Once the application process began, it started with me sending applications with my resume and cover letter to the companies I was interested in, which was posted on the 12Twenty careers site, available to all NYU Stern students. A few weeks later, emails started being sent out inviting me to schedule first round interviews, which typically consist of both behavioral and more analytical based interviews. I used my casing prep from the Management Consulting Association (MCA)  to get ready for the more technical interviews, and did due diligence by researching the companies and really figuring out how I would fit in and add to the community. Then, I worked with my peers on behavioral interview prep. A wonderful process my friends and I did was to ask a behavioral question (like: tell me about a time you overcame a challenge) in the group chat every morning and each person would respond back with a voice note of their answer. We’d respond back to each other with feedback and it was so helpful to hear the different perspectives! 

Interviews

Once those interviews are complete, invites are typically sent out for a final round. Given the post-covid world, some companies will do the final round virtually or in person. When it’s in person, it’s really fun meeting the other MBA students from other schools invited to the final round as well, which might sound like intense competition, but rather it feels more like an opportunity to network! For final rounds, you may be prompted to do a behavioral interview again, but you also may be asked to do a presentation on a topic, a case interview, or even a group case. I know these days can seem really stressful and daunting since you’re evaluated on so many different factors, but I noticed when I stopped viewing it as a one way street of if they were going to like me, my anxiety on the matter disintegrated. Instead, view it as an opportunity to understand if the environment and people at the company make you feel that you’ll be able to really add to the company in an impactful way and succeed. My biggest takeaway from the experience of recruitment was that you know yourself better than anyone else, so look to emulate your traits of impact in a light that’s truthful to who you are. There’s no right or wrong in your answers, as long as you stay true to yourself and identify the ways you can make a successful impact at your target company and role. 

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INTENDING

Given the structure and intensity of the one year MBA, I realized very early on that intentionality is key to maximize my experience and fully take advantage of everything Stern has to offer. Being intentional helps to set goals, from which I can work backwards to develop an actionable plan to success. Most importantly, this attitude will hopefully serves as a GPS, navigating me through my career transition and personal development while at Stern.

Intentional about goal-setting
Coming into Stern, I was absolutely sure about one thing – absorbing as much information as I can to enable my career switch from finance to brand management. With that, I looked into resources at Stern that would widen my network and introduce me to new opportunities. For example, I’m excited for Stern Luxury & Retail Club’s various events to start in the Fall semester, especially the Annual Stern Luxury & Retail Conference. I also look forward to building a relationship with my mentor Elana Drell-Szyfer. Professor Carr had set up the mentoring program where every student in the Stern Fashion & Luxury (F&L) MBA program is paired up to a mentor from the Stern Fashion and Luxury MBA Council. Beyond these, I made a list of activities and clubs that would help in my career transition. Although the list is constantly adjusted as I receive more information and develop more interests, having a concrete goal to strive towards set my sail straight in these first couple of weeks at Stern

Intentional about choosing classes
Choosing classes for the Fall semester is one of the most stressful things I have done thus far. Knowing that I only have one year and a finite number of credits for electives, I was initially overwhelmed by all the options. And even more so after talking to fellow students and alumni on which classes they found most intriguing. After dreading and avoiding the task for a week, I turned to my trusty old friend Excel and made a matrix. I went through the course catalogue, researched different professors and read samples syllabi. Eventually, I came up with a short list of classes that were interesting and listed (even color coded) them by professors, reviews/ratings and which specializations the classes fulfilled. This list saved me from multiple potential nervous breakdowns! Ideally, I’d like to graduate from the F&L program with specializations in Luxury Marketing, Strategy and Digital Marketing (very aspirational, I know). Because I am looking to expand knowledge in specific functional areas, being intentional with class selection was extremely important for me. With this list, I was able to assess how classes stacked up against each other and which ones maximized exposure to brand management and marketing skills.

Snapshot from my handy class selection list

Intentional about finding your tribe
The world isn’t just rainbows and butterflies and things get rough more frequently than we’d like. And so it takes a village to succeed. I’m so glad to share my MBA journey with these classmates and look forward to getting to know each other better in the course of next year. It’s crazy to think that we will be spending almost (if not) every day together for the next year. Cheers to friendships, shared experiences and growth!